Full planes help boost US Airways 1Q results

US Airways, the nation’s fifth-largest airline posted a bigger adjusted profit as it carried more passengers, and collected more from them. The airline earned $44 million, or 26 cents per share. Its adjusted profit was 31 cents per share. Revenue rose 3.5 percent to $3.38 billion, driven by what the airline called “a strong demand environment.”

• Discover Financial Services said its first-quarter net income rose 2 percent, boosted by loan growth. Discover posted a profit after paying preferred dividends of $659 million, or $1.33 per share, up from $644 million, or $1.21 per share, in the same quarter last year. Revenue net of interest expense increased 10 percent to $1.99 billion. The company credited loan growth, revenue from Discover Home Loans, which was launched in June 2012, and lower funding costs. Total loans increased 7 percent to $60.4 billion. Credit card loans increased 5 percent to $48.7 billion. Riverwoods-based Discover, best known for its namesake credit card, is the sixth-largest U.S. credit-card issuer.

• Illinois Tool Works Inc. reported a 27 percent decline in first-quarter net income Tuesday as its revenue fell 8 percent. But the industrial products and equipment maker said its operating margins – a measure of how much of its revenue that a company gets to keep – had improved. The company, based in Glenview, said it earned $354 million, or 78 cents per share, for the quarter ended March 31, down from $486 million, or $1 per share, in the same quarter last year. After adjusting for the acquisition of the majority interest in a consumer packaging joint venture, it earned 96 cents per share for the most recent period. Illinois Tool Works said its net revenue fell to $4.01 billion from $4.36 billion a year ago.